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Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

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Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#301

Post by MaxDPS »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #277
dymk wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the condition that causes it. One of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD is anxiety over not being able to get things done. Your comment sounds dismissive of the real adverse impact of ADHD on one's inherent executive function; rather it's just someone being too "in their head" after they're giving a diagnosis. > it becomes a medical condition you've been stuck with 90-ish% of people with ADHD respond well to stimu…

"One of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD is anxiety over not being able to get things done." No, it is not. https://www.aafp.org/dam/AAFP/documents/patient_care/adhd_to... If you have to keep taking amphetamines you are stuck with it. It is clear that something dopamergenic is going on with these kids, but no one is trying to find out why they do not have enough dopamine. You know we have biological pathways that pro…

I'm happy with the fact that medication has helped me immensely. That doesn't mean we should stop looking at better ways to address the issue, but until we find something better, i'll keep taking my meds.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#302

Post by jereees »

jereees wrote: post #223
screye wrote: post #195

Can someone comment on whether ADHD medication leads to 'loss' of the unfiltered imagination that I have come to associate with my perpetually distracted self ? A friend on ADHD meds told me that it feels like trading unbridled creativity for stability. He found it to be an essential drug for functioning, but I got a sense that it involved losing something really central to your sense of self. Almost like being made…

Diagnosed at 25, started Vyvanse right away. My ADHD is similar to what you describe, and the medication has helped with the mandatory chores of day to day life. If anything it has the effect of feeling that nothing is “too hard” for me and that I am not “too dumb to learn or do X”. Side effects are light to moderately sever headache if I don’t drink enough water, IBM, high blood pressure and a pinch of insomnia. It’…

IBS*

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#303

Post by spython »

billjings wrote: post #282
sph wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have said this many times already: the downside of medicating children is that they never have a chance of learning how dysfunctional ADHD is. Then they blame the medication because they find they can't function without it. No shit, that's why you were taking it. I have been diagnosed in my 30s and when I stop medication, my life returns to the same exact shit it's been for 30 years. It feels like falling apart, be…

My personal view is that this worldview, the one that that views my inability to "function" in school, work, etc. as attributable to a clinical disorder treatable by medication, was incorrect. ADHD is defined as a disorder of executive function: that is, an individual with ADHD is unable to do what they wish to do. This was an accurate description of me; to this day, finding and working toward my goals is something I…

Perhaps a personal question, but how did you become better at recognizing and executing your wishes?

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#304

Post by eurasiantiger »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #169
sph wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I've had a low-grade depression for all my adult life, which has worsened in the past 5 years. I got diagnosed with ADHD 5 months ago, started medication 2 months ago, and last week I told my therapist I'm pretty sure my life-long depression is in remission. There's a definite feeling that my life is now in a slight upwards trajectory, even on the worst of days. Life tends to become pretty sad when you have no…

Why is it so strange that an amphetamine would get rid of depression?

Methylphenidate is not an amphetamine derivative.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#305

Post by eurasiantiger »

spython wrote: post #303
billjings wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal view is that this worldview, the one that that views my inability to "function" in school, work, etc. as attributable to a clinical disorder treatable by medication, was incorrect. ADHD is defined as a disorder of executive function: that is, an individual with ADHD is unable to do what they wish to do. This was an accurate description of me; to this day, finding and working toward my goals is something I…

Perhaps a personal question, but how did you become better at recognizing and executing your wishes?

Sense of self, personal agency, serotonergic psychedelics.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#306

Post by billjings »

spython wrote: post #303
billjings wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal view is that this worldview, the one that that views my inability to "function" in school, work, etc. as attributable to a clinical disorder treatable by medication, was incorrect. ADHD is defined as a disorder of executive function: that is, an individual with ADHD is unable to do what they wish to do. This was an accurate description of me; to this day, finding and working toward my goals is something I…

Perhaps a personal question, but how did you become better at recognizing and executing your wishes?

That's kind of the work of life, isn't it? So it's a long story.

It probably started with reading _Delivered From Distraction_ years ago. I tried a bunch of stuff in that book. Nothing was a silver bullet (because there is no silver bullet), but I have to give credit to that book for inspiring me.

Nowadays if I'm writing, journalling, praying, and getting honest feedback from friends regularly I'm probably on the straight and narrow. But I try not to be too hard on myself: life isn't a contest, after all.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#307

Post by citilife »

andybak wrote: post #206
citilife wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you're saying, but reread what you said and replace "medication" and "pill" with "cocaine". Amphetamine can be used in the same manner and for the same perceived reasons. Granted, I am happy for you and I think drug laws are ridiculous.

(Methylphenidate is not amphetamine btw. Other ADHD meds are literally amphetamines but I'm only talking about methylphenidate) If cocaine had positive effects that outweighed the negatives then it absolutely should be prescribed. But it doesn't. Unlike methylphenidate - which for most people has fairly mild downsides at the doses it is usually prescribed in. It is also largely non-addictive with little evidence of l…

Methylphenidate is highly addictive...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylphenidate

Though I'll grant you we don't have data for long-term effects.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976341...

Further, as you pointed out does have benefits (which is I assume why it's prescribed). Cocaine and meth have similar effects btw (pros and cons), abuse is what causes the issue(s). People can survive on both for decades though.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#308

Post by Auracle »

adastra22 wrote: post #177
Taywee wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not them, and I don't have ADHD, but I am the parent of a child with ADHD and I know plenty of people with ADHD, and it's not just "having trouble focusing". For a lot of people, it's a complete inability to focus on any one thing for any real amount of time. They can try as hard as they can to force themselves, but become disfocused and distracted despite any effort. It also often involves impulsiveness that is incr…

Thank you for you sympathy and empathetic response. Your son's in good hands. As an ADHDer, I never understood what it was like for others until I got treatment with stimulants. It's like I can just take this magic pill and for 8 hours I'm "normal." I wish there was an opposite pill, one which made people inattentive and impulsive. Then everyone else could try it for a day or two and see how debilitating it is. Regul…

Ironically, the opposite pill for me is Adderall. I take stimulants for idiopathic hypersomnia and if I take too high of a dose I have a hard time concentrating on just one thing.

I don’t think it gets as bad as ADHD but I definitely get a taste of it.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#309

Post by tokamak-teapot »

falcolas wrote: post #19

FWIW, ADHD increases the risk of depression too. Executive Function Disorder creates a lot of internal thoughts of "I'm a loser" "I'll never be able to succeed", and so forth. Though, being fair, those are thoughts other people will direct at those with ADHD as well.

Maybe executive function issues create those thoughts, but it's also tempting to think that maybe there is a contribution from the following from one's childhood:

* Being told you're lazy

* Being told you're stupid

* Being told you don't care

* Being told you aren't trying (when you're trying incredibly hard)

* Being told you must have 'something' wrong with you

* Being told that your parents have given up on you

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#310

Post by galoisgirl »

robonerd wrote: post #45
falcolas wrote: post #19

FWIW, ADHD increases the risk of depression too. Executive Function Disorder creates a lot of internal thoughts of "I'm a loser" "I'll never be able to succeed", and so forth. Though, being fair, those are thoughts other people will direct at those with ADHD as well.

> "I'll never be able to succeed" Is it the condition which causes this, or the diagnosis of the condition? I think diagnoses can easily inspire feelings of futility. It's no longer something you can change about yourself by wanting to change, it becomes a medical condition you've been stuck with.

I've had these thoughts as a teenager but got diagnosed at 32.

> it becomes a medical condition you've been stuck with.

It can feel like this. However, for me, it was much more of a "finally, an explanation!". It showed me my limits are a bit lower than I hoped for, but it gave me immense clarity about those limits. Plus finding your limits, realising there are things you'll never achieve... I think that's anyone's fate sooner or later. It's okay.

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